Embarassment of Riches for Documentarians

Wow, documentary filmmakers suddenly find themselves with some of the very best resources explaining fair use that have ever been assembled for non-lawyers. First came the Center for Social Media's project to bring together documentarians to distill a Documentary Filmmakers' Statement of Best Practices in Fair Use. This is fantastic because it is short, free, written for non-lawyers, and grew out of discussions inside the documentary film community. Best of all, courts can look to this kind of "best practices" document when deciding fair use cases. So, with any luck, the documentary community is effectively making their own fair use law here, rather than waiting for Congress or the courts to resolve the questions. Bravo!

And now that great project has been joined by Bound By Law (also available in a bound edition from Amazon), a new comic book (!) from Duke Law School's Center for the Study of the Public Domain that describes fair use principles as they apply to documentary film-makers. The graphic novel form here is effectively used to put across a great deal of useful, practical legal information in a way that lay persons can use.

Related Updates

Last week’s BMG v. Cox decision has gotten a lot of attention for its confusing take on secondary infringement liability, but commentators have been too quick to dismiss the implications for the DMCA safe harbor. Internet service providers are still not...

EFF, Public Knowledge, and the Center for Democracy and Technology Urge The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to Protect Internet Subscribers in BMG v. Cox. No one should have to fear losing their Internet connection because of unfounded accusations. But some rights holders want to use...

If you only listened to entertainment industry lobbyists, you’d think that music and film studios are fighting a losing battle against copyright infringement over the Internet. Hollywood representatives routinely tell policymakers that the only response to the barrage of online infringement is to expand copyright or even create new copyright-adjacent...

Copyright Lawsuits Won’t Stop People from Sharing Research In principle, everyone in the world should have access to the same body of knowledge. The UN Declaration of Human Rights says that everyone deserves the right “to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.”
The reality is a bit...

"This is a sensible ruling that will help protect free expression in Sweden," said Mitch Stoltz, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
"The court recognized that Internet service providers shouldn't be held responsible for copyright infringement by their customers," he told the E-Commerce Times.
If ISPs...

Mark Jaycox, a legislative analyst for the EFF, said that the proposal from the Obama administration may be overreaching.
"The blog post posits that IP/trade secret concerns are reasons that are not already covered to take down botnets. That's a civil/private context and we've seen private companies use the Lanham...

Despite the critique, it’s far from clear that Tucows and other registrars are doing anything wrong. In fact, the Electronic Frontier Foundation notes that there is no law requiring registrars to disconnect pirate sites.
“Domain registrars do not have an obligation to respond to a random third party’s complaints about...

Advocacy groups are stepping up their efforts to prevent Attorneys General from reviving parts of the Stop Online Piracy Act on a state level. The groups, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Free Press, and Engine Advocacy, have written a letter to Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood...

"Copyright touches everyone's lives now because we all have copying devices in our pockets and in our homes," said Mitch Stoltz, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He warned that digital-rights organizations will be ready to battle any legislation they see as a threat to online expression.